Wayne Gretzky is a former Canadian ice hockey player known as one of the best hockey players the game of Ice Hockey has ever produced. Also nicknamed as ‘the Great One’, his NHL career lasted close to two decades from 1979 to 1999 for four separate teams. He is the player with the most number of goals and assists in the NHL history and held 61 NHL records at the time of his retirement in 1999. Playing in his very first NHL season for Edmonton Oilers, he was named the ‘Most Valuable Player of the Season’. And almost immediately after announcing his retirement, he was included in the hockey Hall of Fame, marking an end to a glorious career. He attributes most of his magnificent hockey skills to the fact that he started very early in his life and by the age of 2, he was already skating on ice and as he turned 6, he was playing with the teenage boys. To this date, Wayne holds 60 of the 61 records that he made during his career at the National Hockey League and served as the head coach of team Phoenix Coyotes for several years.

Wayne Gretzky was born in Ontario, Canada, on 26th January 1961 in a middle class family to Walter Gretzky and Phyllis Leone. His father worked at a Canadian Telephone Company. The family had four children and they all played hockey as toddlers. Wayne took the stick in his hands for the first time at the age of 2, at his grandfather’s house and by the time he turned 6, he was playing with the teenagers in his locality. His coach Dick Martin once said that he sometimes played better than boys more than twice his age.

In his first junior season, where Wayne played with boys much older than him, he gave phenomenal performance. It was all a result of intense practice that the game became his obsession and he would always insist on playing against older team members and held himself pretty well among them. In his very first junior season, Wayne scored 378 goals, which was a magnificent feat for a boy of his age.

As he embarked into his teenage, his popularity crossed his local borders and the Wayne-wave started blowing across Canada. At the age of 14, his family took him to Toronto to make his game better and to provide him with a better coaching and facilities. In 1977, Wayne was the third pick in the midget draft for the OMJHL and he played for Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. His impressive performance at the World Junior Championship in 1978 also helped him reach the big league.

Despite age restrictions, Wayne played his first official NHL season in 1979 and shut the naysayers up with a memorable performance, then went on to receive the honour as the Most Valuable Player of the league, scoring a magnificent 137 points. He barely missed the Calder Memorial Trophy, given to the NHL rookies, due to his previous experience at WHA. In the next season, Wayne got his hands on the Art Ross Trophy for his performance.

During the 1981-82 season, he set a new record after hitting 50 goals in the 39 matches that he played in and ended that season with a record goal count of 92 along with 120 assists and 212 points. It didn’t take much time for his team to become the strongest NHL team in those few years that Wayne graced them with his presence. Oilers got their hands on the Stanley Cup in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1988 and Wayne’s contribution in all the blaring success was incredible and as he continued playing, more records kept smashing.

By 1986, Wayne had become a beast in terms of scoring goals and points and he ended the season with a record 52 goals and 163 assists, which instantly put him among the league of the best hockey players. Canada being a hockey crazy nation, Wayne’s scintillating performance gained him a celebrity status among his countrymen and the Canadian government didn’t shy away from showering Wayne with honours and awards. He was honoured with the Wayne Gretzky Dollar Coin, which is counted among the biggest Canadian civilian honours.

Wayne continued performing well for Oilers but a shocker came in mid 1988, when Oilers traded Wayne to LA Kings for some cash and a few players. However, there were speculations that Wayne himself asked Oilers to go ahead with the trade so that it could help his wife, who was a struggling actress. However, another theory suggested that it was a right move made by NHL so that the sport could gain more popularity in Southern California.

Playing for Los Angeles Kings, Wayne made his debut in 1988 season and was named the alternate captain for the first season and although his performance wasn’t up to the mark like back in Canada, he was still getting considered as one of the best players playing in the league. In 1993, he performed like a true blue magician to lead his team to the Stanley Cup finals, but his team eventually lost to Montreal Canadians.

Wayne had to leave LA Kings to join St. Louis Blues in 1996 and played just one season with them. His career was getting visibly low and in the next year, he made a move to New York Rangers where he played for three more seasons before finally announcing his retirement from the game. He helped his team reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 1997, but eventually lost to Philadelphia Flyers. In his last season in 1998-99, he broke the goal scoring record of 1071, which was held by Goldie Howe before him.

After announcing his retirement in 1999, he still remained connected to the game and his team and as it was expected, he received a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

He served as the executive manager and head coach for Phoenix Coyotes from 2001 to 2009 and ended all his ties with the team in 2009 after team’s abysmal performance in the previous few seasons, taking all the responsibility for it.

Presently, Wayne operates his very own restaurant business in California.

His broad list of career achievements in Hockey includes Art Ross Trophy (10 times), Hart Trophies (9 times) and Ted Lindsay award (5 times). Several awards and honours have been started in his name.

Wayne Gretzky has appeared on the television many times which includes his stint as a dance judge on the show ‘Dance Fever’ and he has also made appearances on talk shows over the years.

On the sets of the show ‘Dance Fever’, Wayne Gretzky met Janet Jones, the actress and instantly clicked with her and started dating her in 1987. In July 1988, the couple got married. They have five children and the family lives happily in California.